Leon Draisaitl comes off bench to win it for Edmonton Oilers

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After being outscored 15-3 in a disastrous 0-3 start on home ice, the Edmonton Oilers loaded up their top line Tuesday night, took a deep breath and tried once again to stop their bleeding.

But, for the better part of 60 minutes, they were still on the wrong end of another red wave.

They were down 2-0 early, their nuclear first line was getting nothing done, they were drowning in penalties, they were losing video reviews and getting goals taken off the board, and with four minutes left in regulation, they were down 3-2 and in real danger of crawling even deeper in the muck.

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Then the least effective players on the ice came to life when it mattered most, with Evan Bouchard scoring on a pass from Connor McDavid to tie it 3-3 with 3:42 left in regulation and Leon Draisaitl, fresh off a third-period benching, scoring in overtime to give the Oilers their long-awaited first win of the season.

“It was a nice pass by Connor and I was fortunate to put that in,” said Draisaitl, who got nailed to the bench for a couple of shifts after taking a selfish cross-checking penalty late in the second period.

“We’re obviously scratching for some points here early on so it was nice to come back and win. It’s always nice to get the first one out of the way and hopefully create some momentum, create some confidence in our group and just go from there.”

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Edmonton’s top line was nowhere to be seen for most of the night, shooting blanks and going 0-for-4 on the power play, but nobody had a bigger comeback night than Draisaitl.

The Oilers had just given up the 3-2 goal late in the second period when Draisaitl lost his cool and laid the lumber on a Flyers forward, leaving the Oilers shorthanded to start the third period. It was his second bad penalty in as many games, so head coach Kris Knoblauch sat him down and sent the message. It’s a move the previous coach was scared to make, but Knoblauch is laying down some clear parameters of what’s acceptable.

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And Draisaitl responded: From the pine to the twine, as it were.

“I think some of the penalties, like mine, are unnecessary,” said Draisaitl. “That’s on us, it’s on me. I thought our killers for the most part did a really good job tonight.”

So the Oilers conclude their season-opening home stand at 1-3, exactly where they were after four games last season.

Some thoughts:

• If a dark cloud cast a shadow of doom over the Oilers this season, it was never more evident than in the first period. It was one of those starts where everything that could go wrong, did.

They took a bench minor for too many men and gave up a power-play goal 45 seconds later. They challenged for goaltender interference and lost, leaving them shorthanded for the second time in the first five minutes. They took another minor for slashing and fell behind 2-0 when the PK let them down again. Bouchard scored from the point but the goal came off the board because Zach Hyman interfered with the goalie and on their only power play of the first period they gave up a shorthanded two-on-one.

It was rough.

• The Oilers still had a lot of flaws, but after starting 0-3 and falling behind 2-0 after 20 minutes, if there was ever a game that could have blown up into a disaster it was this one. Being able to reel in a game that was getting away from them is a good sign.

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“I think through these games there are opportunities to respond and I think we did that tonight,” said Adam Henrique, who scored his first of the season in the win.

“The other night we had two goals called back and we had another tonight, but we did a good job responding. We kept responding and found a way to claw back into it. We capitalized on a great late goal and then a huge goal in overtime too for a big win for us.”

• Stuart Skinner made some monster saves in the second period when the Flyers were capitalizing on some shoddy defence to get premium-quality looks. It could have easily been 4-2 or 5-2. He’d been leaky in his first two appearances but he gave his team a chance in this one.

“You can kind of see that he’s building his swagger,” said Oilers winger Connor Brown, who also scored in the win. “When he gets in a groove there is no one better.”

• After a very shaky start to the season and two power-play goals against in the first period, Edmonton’s penalty kill stepped it up as the game wore on. They killed off three penalties in the second period, including a lengthy two-man advantage. It was a pretty strong recovery considering how badly they were thrown to the wolves. Edmonton took seven minor penalties on the night.

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• On a team woefully short on players willing to step up and do something when momentum is going the wrong way, or somebody takes liberty with a teammate, Troy Stecher (5-10, 184) dropped the gloves and went after Sean Couturier (6-4, 210) after the Flyers forward put a shoulder into Skinner midway through the third period.

“He had a few inches on him but he stuck in there and landed some good ones and overall he’s played really well,” said Brown. “When you see teammates standing in there and going shot for shot with guys, the lengths that guys are willing to go to get an edge and win hockey games … it was a huge momentum builder for us in the third.”

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